Addressing Gender-based Violence

The Challenge

Worldwide, 1 out every 3 women experiences gender-based violence (GBV), leading to devastating impacts on her health and well-being. These impacts include, but are not limited to: death, disability, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, miscarriage, late entry into antenatal care, stillbirth, low birth weight, depression and suicide.

Our Approach

Skills-building, mentorship and monitoring the quality of GBV services;

Mapping the availability of services and gauging provider knowledge, attitudes and practices;

Implementing GBV quality assurance standards in health facilities;

Integrating appropriate GBV screening into antenatal care and family planning services, and examining the impact of screening on care for women; and

Raising community awareness and dialogue about GBV to increase demand for services, to reduce stigma against survivors and link them to care, and to engage whole communities in GBV prevention.

Our Work

In Rwanda, Jhpiego leads the Maternal and Child Survival Program (MCSP), which reached over 13,000 survivors with post-GBV care and built the capacity of 173 trainers and 1,500 health providers on GBV. MCSP conducted quality assurance for GBV service delivery through the use of evidence-based standards, improving performance by over 20% in 12 Isange One Stop Centers in the areas of empathetic counseling, ensuring privacy and special care for child and adolescent survivors.

In Nigeria, MCSP built the capacity of 41 facilitators (pre-service and in-service providers) in GBV first-line support and basic clinical care, who will go on to train their peers. MCSP also mapped the availability of GBV services in both states, as well as provider knowledge, attitudes and practices, producing a GBV Rapid Assessment Report and GBV Referral Maps for Kogi and Ebonyi States.

In Guinea, MCSP established a network of 7 health facilities comprised of 42 health care providers, 125 community educators, 10 paralegals and university committees to support GBV survivors. In addition, 180 educational sessions on GBV have reached 13,000 people in Guinea, including security forces and local government officials.

In Ghana, MCSP worked with the Ministry of Health to develop an e-learning module for health providers and students on the basics of post-GBV care, which was then adapted and translated into French by MCSP in Madagascar. The module is being administered to community midwives and nurses.

In Mozambique, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is funding Jhpiego under the DREAMS (Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored and Safe) partnership to screen participants in HIV testing services for intimate partner violence and to link them to care.